Marth and Roy on the High Seas
by xan-vallen
Summary: A pirate ship. Two cabin boys. One corrupted crew and its captain. Is it possible for Marth and Roy to escape? [non-yaoi, AU, adventure/fantasy]
1. Part ONE

Marth and Roy on the High Seas

Authors: Xan and Vallen

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters of Super Smash Brothers Melee do not belong to us. We just use them for our pleasure. However, the character Trave is purely original, and _does_ belong to us. That is all!

Warnings: Um… Not many. No yaoi!! *sniffle* Mild violence, semi-slavery stuff (^_^), pirates… Tee-hee.

Feedback: Please? We love having feedback/comments almost as much as writing… Almost. 

Notes: 

Vallen: *cough* This was purely spontaneous and was spawned from the fact that we love pirates and Marth and Roy. ^_~ *looks at Xan strangely* Eh? Oh, and they're quite a bit younger in this, but we describe them with their ages and whatnot so you won't get confused!

Xan: *waves a cutlass around* Arrrr mateys!  Join us for this crrrrazy high seas adventure!  Love it or walk the plank! Arrr…  

          "Marth! Roy! Get up, you worthless sacks of shark fodder!" The two sleeping boys were rudely awakened by the second mate, Ganondorf.

          Marth scrambled out from his and Roy's 'nest' in the hold, looking warily up at the red-haired mate.

          "You've got the entire deck to scrub this morning, boys. Have fun." The tall, bulky man with leering eyes and an omnipresent sneer upon his lips stalked off, after tossing two mops, buckets and other materials at them.

          Once Ganondorf was out of sight, Roy crawled out, pulling on a ragged red shirt. On the bottom, he wore a pair of tan pants ripped off at the knee. A white headband (it looked like something ripped off a sail) was the only thing that adorned his head, keeping back some of his messy auburn hair.

          "I guess we should start now so we have a chance at getting breakfast," the twelve year-old boy said, grabbing a mop. Marth, a few years older than his companion at fifteen nodded, pulling his own blue rag of a shirt over his tattered and ripped breeches.

          "Yes. Maybe if we hurry, Bowser'll save some for us! Let's go." He grabbed some of the equipment and went upstairs.

          "You want me to sneak into the kitchen and grab something while you get the water and mix the soap in?" Roy offered as the headed on deck. 

          "Yeah! Bowser likes you better anyways." Marth said, taking Roy's stuff from him.

          The smaller boy disappeared back into the depths of the ship. This vessel belonged to one of the most feared pirates who ever sailed the seas. The exterior was mostly dark redwood with black paint, which Marth and Roy usually repainted regularly. It was large, with plenty room for a nice-sized crew, weapons and storage. The sails had recently been dyed red, so it gave off quite an appearance, as if they were soaked with blood.

          It was not yet day, so the sun was just rising up into the sky, casting rays upon the calm water.

          "Here," Roy whispered to Marth, handing him a loaf of break. "Hide it and don't let _him_ see."

          Marth nodded and tucked the loaf into his sash.  Any extra rations had to be hidden diligently from the master of the ship, Captain Trave.  

          The two boys felt eyes upon them and glanced around to find the first mate, Sheik looking at them.  The tall, blond man spoke rarely and did not do so now, save for a single command.

          "Swab the decks and finish quickly.  Captain Trave wishes to see the both of you."

          "Yes sir."  They both answered, meeting Sheik's eyes for a fleeting moment before going away.

          The two boys poured out the soapy water onto the vast decks of the ship and began to scrub it vigorously with their mops.  

          "I don't even know what to know what the Captain wants us for this time," Roy said under his breath.

          "He either wishes to beat us or make us do some menial, stupid chore of his…" Marth growled. "Filthy bastard…"

          "Keep talking like that and you'll be just like him when you're older…" The younger boy whispered back.  "But that's not to say that I don't hate him too."

          Sweat dripped down Roy's face as he worked a particular spot over and over again.  It was a large blood stain.  Why couldn't the Captain just send them over the plank like all the other pirates?"

          The two of them worked long and hard before the decks were completely clean.  It was backbreaking work, especially for two boys as young as they, but they did not have any choice.  After putting the equipment away, they went to the Captain's cabin and knocked on the door.

          Trave was a tall man of refined appearance with an elegant, handsome face, long wavy black hair that was usually pulled back into a loose ponytail and piercing eyes.  His lip curled when he caught sight of Marth and Roy.

          "Ah, you're late."

          "Forgive us, Captain.  Ganondorf woke us late."  Marth lied in order to protect his and Roy's skins.

          "I wanted to inform you two that I'll have all sorts of odd jobs for you to do until we reach the islands I seek," Trave continued, opening the door wider to reveal his dark chambers.

          "Captain, what islands?"  Marth asked curiously, only to be cuffed sharply by the pirate.

          "Silence.  When I, out of the goodness of my heart, decided to take the two of you in when I found you living like wild dogs in your destroyed village, I did not desire to have two cabin boys who questioned everything I say."  The Captain ordered.

          "We already do everything you say, Captain.  What more do you want?"  Roy finally spoke up, his blue eyes large and questioning.  "We do all this and what do we get?  A place to sleep, endless chores and maybe two meals a day.  Surely, in all your treasure, you could find something to pay us with?"

          A look of anger crossed Trave's face once again.

          "Ingrates, both of you!"  He yelled, backhanding the two boys harshly. "You should be paying me for all the kindness that I've shown you!  For your impertinence, no meals for the remainder of the week and I'm halving your water ration as well.  Now get to your duties or I'll have you keelhauled."

          The auburn-haired boy glared at the Captain before grabbing the sleeve of Marth's shirt and pulling him out of there.

          "I can't stand it…" He growled, leaning over the edge of the ship.  Both of their cheeks were reddened slightly from Trave.

          Now that it was later in the morning, there were more hands on deck, manning the different positions that it took to keep the large ship running smoothly.  Even the reclusive Sheik was out and about, but was by the helm this time.

          "That's it," Marth muttered, glaring down at the waves. "Roy, we've gotta get out of here."

          "But how?  Trave's got the whole ship under his thumb…"

          "Then let's get rid of the ship."

          Roy coughed and ducked his head as a spray of salt water rose up with a hiss.

          "You have no idea how ridiculous that sounds."

          "Oh shut up.  Stop looking at me like I've been drinking sea water.  But we have to get off of this damn ship.  He's going to kill us soon if we don't."  Marth scowled.  His ears perked as he heard Sheik saying something to Fox, the helmsman.

          "We're approaching Delfino Island, so be wary.  There are submerged reefs surrounding the island and are treacherous to ships like these.  Many have run aground and been shipwrecked, so you'd better not mess up."  

          The blue-haired teen's eyes widened.

          "Roy," he whispered. "That's it!"

          "Tell me!"  Roy responded, his voice as soft as Marth's.  "It has something to do with the island, right?  I'm sure Trave's just looking for some treasure he doesn't have in his collection yet."

          "We'll run the ship onto the reefs and escape!  We could get Fox drunk or something…  He sure likes to get into the rum enough."  

          "And while the ship's going down, we somehow swim through the sea and manage not to let the undertow take us and reach the island?  It's worth a shot, but…  Can we survive being shipwrecked on the island?"

          "It can't be any worse than being here.  And on a deserted island, nobody can beat us.  I'd call that a plus.  We're gonna die if we stay on this ship and frankly, I'd rather die free on an island than stuck here on a stinkin' pirate ship."  Marth said firmly.

          The younger boy smiled a bit, glancing back at the large ship and the leering pirates working the sails.  This had never been the life that they had wanted.

To be continued…

Vallen: … In the next episode of Marth and Roy on the High Seas!! Wha-ha! Ahem. There'll be a few more chapters, but this isn't nearly as long as F.no.K. Hope you liked it! If it wasn't pleasing enough for you, wait around for the next chapter… *cackles evilly* Oh, and did anyone catch the Super Mario Sunshine ref? We just borrowed the name…

Xan:  *still having way too much fun with her cutlass*  Ar!  Seriously, we hope you like this ficlett of ours.  Just think of it as "Xan & Vallen Lite"  'cause even we gotta take a break from all the angst and torture of FNOK every once in a while!  This is a fun happy fic!  …er, for the most part.  ^_^  AR!  


	2. Part TWO

Marth and Roy on the High Seas

Authors: Xan and Vallen

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters of Super Smash Brothers Melee do not belong to us. We just use them for our pleasure. However, the character Trave is purely original, and _does_ belong to us. That is all!

Warnings: Um… Not many. No yaoi!! *sniffle* Mild violence, semi-slavery stuff (^_^), pirates… Tee-hee.

Feedback: Please? We love having feedback/comments almost as much as writing… Almost.

Notes:

Xan:  Well, here we are again…  Sorry this one gets updated so seldomly – I guess we tend to concentrate on the more popular stuff, huh?  Anyways, I got inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean and typed up another chapter to this!  So hold on to yer bootstraps, ye scurvy dogs!  Think you can handle more Marth and Roy on the High Seas?!

Vallen: … And I'll let Xan be the announcer on this one. She seems to enjoy it…  

Thank you:  Darkwulfe (Glad you liked it!  And no, no yaoi in this one… sorry all you yaoi fans!), tikimoof (Yeah, I guess it would be weird seeing lighter stuff from us, huh?  And yes, this is the same Trave from FNOK.  He got such a great response that we decided to use him again, that's all.  And the island thing?  *looks mysterious*  you'll just have to find out…), turquoisefox (Gah!  No, Trave is a strictly Marth and Roy baddie.  We just like using him 'cause he's SO evil…  ^_^  And glad you like it even though it ISN"T dark and super depressing!), Chibifairy (Yes, Sheik is definitely a boy.  We both think Sheik is really cool, so we decided to use him in this.  And so much for updating soon… gomen!), Pichu*Star (^_^  Aw, so the Xan-Vallen stamp automatically makes things great now… cool.  You should see some of our original stuff.  …On second thought maybe you shouldn't.  And you thought FNOK was disturbing, whew…), LilFilipinoGurl (Greatest Marth/Roy writers, wow!  That's awesome!  Oh, we use Microsoft word and use the web layout view…  more questions, email us), Persian Kittie (Waugh!  Scary!  Look, I AM putting more up, so get off my back!  *grin*  Hey, you know we think you're great, right?), Sake Girl Duelist (Gah, what do you mean what about fubuki no kaen?  That one's been updated about 12 times while this one just sat there…  Oh well, I'm sending these to vallen at the same time, so hopefully they'll update at once.  Cool!)  

It was true that Trave had found the two boys as youngsters in their ransacked and burned village, but the captain had kidnapped them and made them work as cabin boys on his pirate ship.  The term "cabin boy" seemed to translate into "slave" in Trave's language.

          "Sounds like fun," Roy said, unable to hide the happiness in his voice.  They had their childhood stolen from them, but maybe they could get it back.  The red-haired boy hugged Marth quickly so that not many noticed.  "I wish you were my brother, Marth."  

          "Eh?  I am your brother.  In spirit anyways."  Marth replied, ruffling Roy's hair affectionately.

          "Marth!  Roy!  Get down to the galley, Bowser has work for you to do."  Sheik ordered the two of them.

          Roy glanced over at Sheik quickly, moving away from Marth.

          "I guess we'd better go.  Sounds like kitchen duty again.  They always get us to cook and clean up for these louts…  My stomach is killing me."  He grumbled.

          "Don't complain, it'll just be another beating if they hear you.  You're lucky – Bowser likes you."  Marth told him, walking to the galley.

          Roy rolled his eyes, picked up his bucket and mob and began to walk down to the galley.  Bowser was there cooking like mad to prepare for the crew.  The large dinosaur-creature took one look at the boys' starved looks and said:

          "No."

          "But why?" 

          "Trave'll have one of my claws if he catches you acting anything but miserable and hungry."  Bowser answered, slicing up potatoes.

          "Guess it's water only today Marth," the smaller boy whispered with a sigh.

          Marth pressed a hand to his already-empty stomach and groaned softly.

          "We haven't eaten in a week…  I guess another week won't make much of a difference…" Inwardly, Marth was unsure as to whether he could stand much more of this.

          "You say that now, but wait a few days," Bowser said, handing them each knives and pointing at the two rickety stools in the corner.  "Get peelin'."  

          "Of course, that's not including the pieces of bread you've given us every once in a while," Roy said, sitting down and beginning to peel potatoes with his fingers and a knife.  He looked longingly at the raw spud in his hand. "Oh a beating is almost worth getting to eat."

          "…And I'll have to tell the captain.  No offence."  Bowser replied in a low, growly voice. "Trave thrives on punishment and pain, doesn't matter whose.  Better me than you.  If you give him a _reason to beat you, it'll make him happy.  It's best being on your best behavior, as you well know."_

          Both Marth and Roy sighed this time, getting to work.  They knew all right.

          "Hey Bowser, do you know where we could get some rum?  You think we could trade some of our water for it?"  Roy asked suddenly.  If they were going to get Fox drunk, they sure as hell needed some alcohol.

          "Guess so.  Never too young to start drinkin' like a real man, us pirates always say," the cook said. "Just tell me when yeh want it, boys."

          Marth smiled inwardly.  Excellent.  If they didn't blow this, everything would go perfectly and they would soon be free again.

          It was several hours later when Bowser called the men in for the evening meal and dismissed Marth and Roy.  But Trave's sadistic nature found yet another way to torture the boys and insisted that they stay in the galley, watching as the men ate.

          Every night, they sat crouched at Trave's feet where he would give them handouts off his scraps when they had been good, as if they were dogs.  But tonight there would be no handouts, since they were being punished.

          A scowl darkened Marth's features as he sat on the hard, filthy floor.  He hated this.  He hated Trave and he hated the ship and he hated himself for submitting to this indignity.  A low growl filled his throat.

          Abruptly, the blue-haired boy felt a sharp pain and let out a yelp.  Trave's booted foot had found his hand and was slowly crushing it under his heel.

          "I heard you growling down there, Pet.  What at?"  Trave asked lightly, not even troubling to look down at him.  Conversation died at the table and all eyes were on them.

          "Nothing, Captain."  Marth hissed, fighting the pain.

          "I don't believe you.  As punishment, I want you to whimper like the dog you are." Trave's heel ground down even harder into Marth's hand, threatening to shatter and snap the fragile bones there.

          Marth clenched his teeth angrily.  There was no way that he would demean himself for Trave's pleasure any longer.

          "Do it or I'll break your hand along with your little friends'." Trave finally looked down at Marth, smiling his lazy, arrogant smile.  

          Marth's eyes widened.  He could stand his own pain, but not Roy's.  He would never let Trave hurt Roy, not even if he died for it.  So Marth bowed his head and began to whimper like a dog, just as Trave had commanded.

          The whole cabin began to laugh, snorting loudly and rudely at Marth.  The noise was deafening to Roy.

          "Stop…" He said softly, but his voice was drowned out.  The younger boy stood and tugged at Trave's shirt sharply. "Let him up!"

          The captain turned his head to the auburn-haired boy slightly, his eyes glinting.

          "Be quiet.  Can't you see what your friend is doing for you?"  He snarled in that creepy voice of his.

          Roy's eyes widened and he stared at Marth, with the heel of Trave's boot on his friend's hand. Now he understood.  Eventually Trave let up, his need to punish and mutilate filled and Roy gave Marth a tight hug.  He closed his eyes and tried to black out the pirates' voices and whispered to Marth,

          "Let's go…" The younger boy begged.

          Marth stood, refusing to let his pain show.  He allowed Roy to lead him back to the nest, where he screamed into the blankets, releasing everything that he had been holding inside of him since the galley.  

          Finally, when he looked up at Roy again, there were tears rolling down his face.  

          "Roy, we have to escape tonight."

          Their nest was a sort of hammock, a crib of ropes and blankets strung from the ceiling of the lower hold.  It wasn't a bed, but it was the best thing that they had.  

          "I-it's gonna be okay…  I think," Roy stammered. "I'm _really_ sorry he threatened you with me…  I should have done something."

          "No, it's alright."  Marth scrubbed his eyes furiously with the back of his hand, trying to smile again to calm Roy's fears.  Fortunately, Trave had gotten his left hand, but it would be injured for quite a while.  He reached over and ruffled Roy's hair.  "I gotta look after my little brother, ya know."

          The younger boy tried to smile as well.

          "Thanks…" He paused, glancing upward.  

          "I'll be the one to do what we need to do after dark.  It has to be me because I'm smaller and they won't catch me.  It'll be easy to get Fox drunk on the rum, I'm sure…"

          "Good.  I'll sabotage the lifeboats…  Aside from the one we'll have to use, I guess."  Marth ripped his shirt into strips and clumsily bandaged his hand.

          "They just ate, so they'll lay low for a few hours.  We should rest while we can…" Roy said, curling into a small ball to give Marth more room.  "The thing that could be dangerous is… well… The ship might sink at night.  It could be a double-edged sword."

          "It could.  And this hand isn't going to help any, damn Trave.  But we have to have faith that we'll get out of here."  Marth closed his eyes and curled up beside Roy and the pair were soon dozing. 

To Be Continued, Mate.

Xan:  Arrrr… More later, mateys.  I'll try to get this one out faster next time.  *goes off singing*  Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me…

Vallen: Er. It hurts to type, so I can't say much… -_- Arrrrg.


	3. Part THREE

Marth and Roy on the High Seas

Authors: Xan and Vallen

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters of Super Smash Brothers Melee do not belong to us. We just use them for our pleasure. However, the character Trave is purely original, and _does_ belong to us. That is all!

Warnings: Um… Not many. No yaoi!! *sniffle* Mild violence, semi-slavery stuff (^_^), pirates… Tee-hee.

Feedback: Please? We love having feedback/comments almost as much as writing… Almost.

Notes:

Vallen: I do confess that this story is not as well written as our others. We don't spend that much time on it nor do we plan things out as thoroughly- We admit that. We just enjoyed the idea of Marth and Roy on a pirate ship… And went with that. ^^;; It's supposed to be somewhat light-hearted… But I suppose that it's more of an adventure. Also, Merry Christmas!

Xan:  Yeeeeeah…. Boy we haven't updated in a while, have we?  Especially this one.  Wow.  Anyways, like Vallen said, this isn't our best fic, but we do like it and we hope you do too!  *waves*  Happy holidays!

Announcement: To FnK2 readers… The story has been put on pause, but we shouldn't keep you waiting for too much longer. Thank you for being patient.

Roy snuck out into the kitchen, where he found Bowser and a few other pirates hanging around the kitchen. By the looks of it, they were all drinking quite heavily.

          "Oh look, it's the boy…" One laughed, pointing at Roy, causing Bowser to turn around and spot him.

          "Ah, you want the hard stuff now? Hold on a minute…" The lizard-dinosaur turned to a barrel and un-corked it, pouring its contents into a large flask.

          "Could I have Marth's too?"

          The cook stared at Roy in surprise, but kept pouring.

          "If you want. But with your size, you might pass out after all this!" The pirates burst out into laughter, chortling and snickering.

          "Thank you…" Roy said, bowed, and walked out to the helm where Fox McCloud was. Luckily, the helmsman was bored.

          The cabin boy walked up to him carefully, handling the alcohol.

          "Say Fox… You like rum, don't 'cha?" He asked.

          "It's pirate's nectar; of course I do," Fox answered absently, staring out at the ocean. The mate didn't really talk to the cabin boys (except to give orders), so this was a strange meeting.

          "Well… I figure I'm going to be stuck on this ship and become a pirate, so I'd better learn to drink like one. Will you share this with me?" The boy held up the full flask of rum.

          Fox eyed it for a moment. This kid didn't know what he was giving away.

          "Hand it over. It's cool to swig it, like this." Once he had gotten the flask from Roy, he took several long gulps, tipping his head back. He now wiped his mouth after making a satisfied noise. "Now you."

          The cabin boy took it and imitated the helmsman, feeling the liquid burn down his throat as he swallowed. His eyes widened, filled with water, and he blinked in surprise, coughing loudly.

          "I… Didn't get it right. You do it again." Roy pretended to watch interestedly while cheering. Fox would be drunk in no time considering how much he was drinking per gulp. "If I pass out… you have to finish it- Marth will make fun of me if I don't finish the bottle," he lied. Marth would never do something like that, but Fox didn't know it.

          In fact, the fox-man chuckled and took more swigs, then gave it back to Roy. They drank like that for a while until the young boy suddenly fell over, landing on the deck with a soft thud.

          Fox rolled his eyes and wobbled on his feet a bit.

          "Cap'n Traaaaaaave!" He shouted loudly. "Get your boy outta my wheelhouse!"

          The captain stomped out a minute later, looking quite annoyed.

          "What is this?" He poked Roy with the toe of his boot. "He's out cold."

          "He wanted me t'show him to t'drink. It's his fault he passed out," Fox answered, trying to hide the fact that he was drunk from his captain.

          "Tch." Trave grabbed Roy's wrist with one gloved hand, dragging him along and muttering about how he shouldn't have to stoop so low as to baby-sit his own cabin boys. He walked below, to their nest, and found Marth lying there. "He's your problem, Pet."

          Marth caught Roy as the captain yanked him over, and pulled him into a more comfortable position. He refused to look up at Trave.

          "Thank you, Master."

          Trave stalked off after narrowing his eyes at Marth slightly. Once he was gone, Roy opened his eyes slowly, looking around at his familiar surroundings. The young boy's cheeks were flushed a bit, and as he turned to look at Marth, he let out a small hiccup.

          Marth bit his lip, but couldn't hide a smile.

          "I hope you're not drunk. It would be a pity for you to fall out of the lifeboat after all my hard work."

          The smaller boy hiccupped again and shook his head to clear it.

          "Hey, no teasing. I did it, didn't I?" He mumbled. "Fox's so drunk he had to hide it from Trave. I could tell that he was masking it… Oh, and remind me not to drink alcohol again – It does weird things."

          "Good. You're too young to drink anyways." Marth rubbed his eyes. "When do you think we'll run aground anyways?"

          "I don't really know… Probably soon. It's dark and Fox can't tell by eyesight, so he'll have to use the maps which are impossible to read when you're drun-n-n-n-k." There were a series of shudders as the whole ship jerked. It was scraping the razor-sharp coral reef.

          The two boys were roughly jostled and nearly knocked right out of the hammock.

          "That's our cue," Marth remarked.

          "I'll go up to the crow's nest and see which direction we'll have to swim!" Roy cried, scampering off.

          There were many shouts and other noises, indicating that lots of the pirates, probably the whole crew, were moving on deck. They were probably all drunk as well. Trave's voice was distinctive, yelling furiously at the mates, and mostly Fox.

          Marth slunk in the shadows on deck, creeping towards where the ship's lifeboats were kept. Luckily for him, none of the crew had noticed him.

          "C'mon Roy…" He muttered anxiously, waiting for his companion.

          "Marth!" Trave yelled from wherever he was. "Get up here!"

          At that moment, Roy scampered back, panting heavily. His eyes were wide and his chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath.

          "He saw me! I don't think we're going to have time to get out a lifeboat!"

          Trave lurched over to them, his hands outstretched. But there was something not quite right- The captain fell to the deck and they could see a cutlass sticking from his back.

          The first mate Sheik walked up calmly while his eyes were as hard as stone.

          "Go, you don't have that much time." Indeed, the ship was sinking with awkward movements and taking on more water every minute. Sheik glanced at the lifeboats, and then back to Trave. "I seem to recall some rule about a captain going down with his ship."

          Marth stared at Sheik and Trave for a moment before scrambling across the deck to the lifeboat. Frantically, he clawed at the ropes that tied it to the deck, but years of exposure to the salt, wind and water had made the knots as solid and impenetrable as an iron ball. He let out a yell of frustration. His left hand was useless and he didn't have a blade to cut the ropes with.

          "Roy, we have to jump!" He shouted to his younger companion.

          Roy glanced at the water.

          "But what about the undertow and the coral?!" The boy shouted back over the din of chaos. "I can't swim very well!"

          "Just jump." Sheik's voice called to them. "You'll get sucked under with the ship if you stay aboard." With that said, he was gone.

          Marth climbed up onto the ship's rail, pulling Roy up with him. The vessel was listing dangerously, soon to sink. Most of the crew had escaped by now.

          "Roy, don't let go of me!" Marth told him, grabbing his hand tightly. "And swim as hard as you can, okay?"

          Roy nodded, squeezing Marth's hand. Marth looked down at the churning black water, took a deep breath, and jumped.

          The water closed over their heads and Marth kicked as hard as he could, ever conscious of Roy's hand in his.

          _'Please let us live through this,'_ he prayed.

          The auburn-haired boy shut his eyes against the wet darkness that engulfed him and clenched Marth's hand tighter. His lungs burned, but he trusted in Marth… They came up to the surface, gasping for air.

          "That way, Marth!" Roy cried, trying to point in the direction they could swim without drowning himself. The only thing was that the swells were getting bigger and the wind was picking up.

          A determined light filled Marth's eyes and he began to paddle as hard as he could against the powerful current, the pull of the sinking boat. His eyes burned from all the salt water, but he had to push through this. An uneasy feeling gnawed at him and he looked back to see a huge wave rising up behind him. His eyes widened; there was no time to avoid it.

          "Hold your breath!" Marth shouted, pulling Roy closer to him.

          Then the wave hit, the foamy crest white as bared fangs. Marth felt the air be knocked out of him and his body being pounded as if by a hundred hammers. None of Trave's beatings had hurt this much. He couldn't breathe and despite how hard he fought it, the world went black.

          Roy was vaguely aware of a heavy weight upon his body as he tried to find his way through the darkness. He knew he was lying down, somewhere soft, but strangely grainy… Was he dead? Then a wave of a cold and wet mass crashed upon him and the boy choked. Suddenly it was bright and he was able to open his eyes. He squinted and stared up at a cloudless blue sky.

          It occurred to him that the weight was indeed a person… Marth? Disjointedly, he pushed his friend away and tried to sit up.

          "Marth…" Roy croaked, reaching out shakily. He felt like a drowned rat (or at least what one would feel like), a comparison which probably wasn't all untrue. Parts of his body throbbed painfully and he had no doubts that he had hit some of the reef. He blinked through the sting of salt water in his eyes and reached for Marth again, coughing.

          Marth's head felt like a blacksmith's anvil, his eyelids like lead weights. His stomach churned violently as if the storm was brewing in it too. He rolled over and gagged, spewing a large amount of seawater. Having done this, he lay back and sucked in a huge lung-full of fresh air.

          "Roy…" He coughed. "Are you alright?"

          "I think so… I hurt all over… Where are we?" Roy answered, pushing himself up shakily. The sun was blinding, but he bowed his head and spotted his arms. They were covered in multiple deep scrapes, along with his chest and legs, from the coral. Undoubtedly Marth was the same.

          "We're on Delfino Island… I think. It was on the map." Marth stood unsteadily. His head was rapidly clearing and he could think rationally now. "Roy, we didn't happen to form a plan any further than 'get-off-the-ship,' did we?"

          Roy thought a minute, and then moaned as he tried to stand up.

          "I don't think so… That's bad, isn't it?"

TBC…

Xan:  Hee hee…  This is a cute story.  Marth-chama and Roy-chan are so adorable.  ^^  Ennyways, hopefully this (and everything else) will be updated more frequently in the future!  Again, happy holidays!

Vallen:  [Wasn't available for end comments!]


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